"Don't come any closer."
That line was probably what Idris was thinking just then.
He had been soaring along up in the sky, sitting at his ease and watching the clouds gather and drift, with his destination of Celadon City already in sight; before long he would have been eating hot pot with a song on his lips.
Then his attention wandered for one moment, a whole skyful of dazzling moves hit him in the face, and down he went.
Fortunately he had not gone down completely — he still had his life, only his head was ringing and would not clear for the moment. And just then three big men were looking at him with the eyes of hunters sizing up prey, which made things worse still.
By now the two sides had engaged and the scene was chaos, and Vance and his two had happened on this fallen man, so there was no reason on earth to let him go.
"Rooar, rooar—"
The three of them sent out every Pokémon they had at once and surged forward together.
And once Vance and his two had sent their Pokémon out, the expression on the man in front of them went from shock to contempt. Contempt, yes.
He threw out his Poké Balls, and three Advanced Pokémon appeared on the field.
"And I thought you were three experts. Turns out you're three small-time punks." Idris got up off the ground with an arrogant look on his face.
"Boom—"
The next moment a roar came from the sky and several terrible auras showed themselves. The arrogance on Idris's face vanished immediately; while keeping his guard up against the three of them, he was also taking in the situation around him.
"I'll take two, you take one."
Vance said it straight out and sent Gyarados and Vigoroth forward to hold off the other man's Typhlosion and Scyther, leaving the remaining Magneton for Ambrose and Emery to tie up for the time being.
Vance had looked over the data on all three Pokémon. The strongest was the Typhlosion at level 38, then the Scyther at 35, then the Magneton at 31.
He left the weakest one to those two. If it was only a matter of keeping it busy, that should be no trouble.
"Ah. All right. We'll do our best."
Ambrose pulled a face and said it, gritting his teeth. He was only an ordinary fat man, and here he was fighting above his class as well. Fortunately he had his mate Emery's help, and six Pokémon between them; tying one up ought to be possible.
"Rooar—"
Gyarados opened his huge mouth and a Hydro Pump struck a Crobat that came flying past to one side, knocking it away, and a Honchkrow followed it up with Aerial Ace and finished it off.
"Nicely done." A big-framed man called out his praise. That assist of Vance's had helped him bring down the Crobat.
"Don't mention it."
Vance nodded to him.
The whole place was a melee, not a matter of one against one. It might be one against several, or several against one, and in a fight like that people on the same side giving a hand as they passed was very common. What Gyarados had just done was exactly that.
"So you don't think much of me. Well, all the better. Scyther, X-Scissor!"
Idris directed the Scyther and took the chance to attack.
The Scyther was extremely fast and appeared in front of Gyarados in the blink of an eye, the blades on its two arms closing together to bring a cross-shaped wave of energy slicing down.
"This is exactly what I've been waiting for."
There was no alarm on Vance's face at being caught out; he was entirely calm and unhurried.
With a rushing crash, layer upon layer of water welled up around Gyarados and spun where it stood, closing the two Pokémon inside it.
"Bad — Scyther, break out of there, quickly. Typhlosion, Magneton, get over there!"
Idris did have a trainer's grounding; the moment he saw how it stood, he reacted.
"Heh heh heh. Magneton, we're your opponents. You aren't going anywhere." Ambrose laughed his cackling laugh and moved in with his Pokémon; together with Emery's they held the Magneton fast.
Now that there was some hope of winning, Ambrose put two hundred per cent into it — and besides, all he had to do was tie it up, not beat the Magneton.
Scorching flames came out of the Typhlosion's back, and it curled up where it stood and became an enormous burning wheel of fire, fiercely hot, and came charging forward.
This was a Fire-type move: Flame Wheel.
Vigoroth opened his eyes, a round of Focus Energy already complete, the muscles of his arms taut and lightning crackling and running along them. He gathered all the strength in his body and brought it down on the great rolling wheel of fire.
"Boom—"
A few threads of flame scattered. Vigoroth was driven back several steps, his feet ploughing two furrows in the ground before he stopped himself, and the Typhlosion's charge was brought to a halt.
Then Vigoroth shifted on his toes, sprang over the Typhlosion to come at it from the side, and drove both fists into it together, blasting it away to smash into a tree trunk nearby.
The Typhlosion had barely got to its feet when Vigoroth's next attack arrived. Before it could open its mouth to spit fire, a Thunder Punch caught it under the jaw, and the follow-up went into its belly.
The Typhlosion felt a numbing pain through its jaw and then a violent one through its belly, and rolled on the ground again.
"Typhlosion, Flame Wheel! Spin where you are."
The Typhlosion did it at once, covering itself in fire, which made Vigoroth break off the attack.
Over on Gyarados's side the Whirlpool shattered, and shards of ice flew backwards together with the Scyther, which looked to have taken a good deal of damage; Gyarados too had been left with a wound that streamed blood.
"Damn it. How is a man like that in Team Rocket?"
Idris's face darkened. From these few exchanges he knew that whoever was directing that Gyarados and that Vigoroth was no ordinary man — and not only the man: the Pokémon had been raised outstandingly well, and in a head-on fight they were even getting the upper hand.
"Ah — Boss, are you done yet? Help, quickly! We can't hold it!"
Ambrose shrieked it. Even as he called for help the Beedrill took an electric shock, went down, and was out of the fight.
"Everything on the Scyther. Gyarados, Hyper Beam. Thunderbolt!"
Vance did not speak; he gave the order by mental contact. The two Pokémon reacted at once and fired on the Scyther together.
In the space of a flash, before Idris could react, his Scyther had been dealt with. But he had not lost his head; his mind worked at speed and he had his answer quickly.
"Typhlosion, you use Hyper Beam too — target the Gyarados. Magneton, move fast, Flash Cannon, target the Gyarados."
The Magneton gave up on Ambrose and Emery and, at its Trainer's order, turned its muzzle on Gyarados.
Two attacks of enormous power tore across the sky straight at Gyarados. Vigoroth moved, coming to stand in front of Gyarados with the energy boiling all over him, and used Protect; a shield-shaped body of energy appeared in front of him and met the two incoming attacks in the same instant.
*This Vigoroth is quite something. Is this what the Boss means by a partner?*
Watching Vigoroth put himself in front of him, Gyarados felt something odd stir inside him, an emotion that went by the name of being moved.
The stiffness in his body passed and he came out of the recovery. He opened Outrage at once, and when he lifted his head his eyes already carried a scarlet cast.
"Boom—"
Hyper Beam and Flash Cannon came crashing in together, and just as Vigoroth felt he could not hold them, Gyarados's shape appeared beside him.
"Mate, I've come to help you."
From the side, a Hydro Pump came tearing through the air and blasted the Typhlosion clean away. The pressure on Vigoroth lifted in an instant, and the other side, with the Typhlosion under attack, broke off the Flash Cannon.